Liberal-Sponsored Polls Show That The GOP Could Be Throwing Away Control Of The House

A slew of polls from swing House of Representatives districts
suggest that Republicans could be playing with fire over control
of the chamber after 2014, due to ongoing budget battles that
have led to a government shutdown and brinkmanship on raising the nation's debt
ceiling.

The surveys, which were commissioned by the liberal group
MoveOn.org Political Action and conducted by the left-leaning
Public Policy Polling, found that at least 17 districts that are
currently held by Republicans could swing in next year's
elections.

Democrats need to swing 17 seats to regain control of the
House.

"Democrats must pick up 17 seats to
win control of the House," pollster Jim Williams wrote in a
memo along with the results. "These poll
results make clear that if the
election were held today, such a pickup would be well within
reach."

And in four more districts, the Republican
incumbent would trail a generic Democrat after pollsters told
survey respondents that their representatives supported the
government shutdown. Those districts were CA-10, NY-11, NY-23,
VA-02.

In all of the districts, voters oppose the
shutdown by at least a 10-point margin. In some more heavily
affected districts — such as Virginia's second district that is
occupied by Republican Rep. Scott Rigell — the disparity is even
more staggering. Only 29% support the shutdown, compared with 65%
who oppose.

Take the results with a grain of salt — it's
still much too early to draw any definitive conclusions from
what's now a six-day shutdown, and the 2014 elections are more
than a year away.

Nevertheless, political analyst Larry Sabato
said last week that Oct. 1 — the first day of
the shutdown — was the "the best day for Democrats in the
U.S. House this cycle." Still, he expects Republicans to retain
control of the House because of built-in
advantages.

"Simply put, there’s no reason why the
House should be in play this cycle, and if
it is in play the Republicans will have only
themselves to blame," Sabato wrote.